Penelope Bolling Clark was my 9th Great-grandmother. She was the wife of Christopher Clark, and both were dedicated Quakers who chose to spend their retirement founding a new colony in Virginia. Although my last name is Bowling, the only known relation to Penelope is actually through her husband Christopher. However, there is a rather lively controversy over the lineage of Penelope. One camp says that Penelope’s maiden name was Bolling. The other camp has invested a great deal in the writings of one man who claims Penelope’s maiden name was Johnson. Curiously there are mountains of circumstantial evidence pointing to Penelope being a Bolling, but very little evidence the other way.
But what makes this so outrageous is the fact that I have been kicked off two ancestry websites for simply researching this idea that Penelope was a Bolling. I kid you not. I consider those to be badges of honor, because I believe genealogy is something that should be explored and something that should have room for discussion. It was those ‘discussions’ that got me kicked out. So, I ended up writing my own research paper on my 9th ggm, and so far, it’s one of the most popular things I’ve written. Right now there are two genealogy websites out there that recognize my work on this subject, who have banned me from their website. Genealogy is one crazy world.
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